MOLINE, IL -Three rental leaders that span the 50-plus years of the industry were announced by the American Rental Association as the newest inductees for the Rental Hall of Fame. The late Thomas "Mitch" Hoxie, Bradley Jacobs and the late Hal Plugge Jr. will be formally inducted during a ceremony at The Rental Show in Atlanta next March.

Thomas M. (Mitch) Hoxie: Mitch Hoxie was one of the rental industry's early and influential pioneers. In 1946 he and his family moved to Tucson, Ariz., where he started the city's first rental business in 1947. It began after neighbors frequently wanted to borrow the extensive supply of equipment he acquired working as a contractor. Hoxie eventually put up a "for rent" sign. As the demand continued to grow, he purchased an old gas station to house the business, which he named Arizona Equipment Rental Co. The name was later shortened to Aero Rental and Hoxie opened four additional operations, one of the first rental companies to have multiple locations.

Hoxie also was one of the first to join ARA, then called the American Associated Rental Operators, during the 1957 convention in Omaha, Neb. When it was discovered he'd owned a rental business longer than anyone else at the convention, he was placed on the program so other attendees could learn from his experiences. That was the start of his Association involvement, as he was elected to the board of directors in 1959 and appointed executive vice president for 1961-1962. He served on a variety of ARA committees, helped establish the awards committee in 1962 and wrote numerous articles for Rental Age (now Rental Management). He was honored as Rental Man of the Year in 1964 and received ARA's Distinguished Service Award in 1968. He was the first director at large on the ARA board when that position was created in 1975 to represent the Association's past officers and directors.

In the early 1970s, Hoxie organized the Tucson Equipment Rental Association and served as its first president. He retired from Aero Rentals in the early 1980s.

Mitch Hoxie passed away in 1984.

Bradley S. Jacobs: Jacobs was not a rental industry insider when he decided to invest his money, energy and expertise in co-founding United Rentals in 1997. He looked at the industry from a fresh perspective, having founded and served as chairman/CEO of United Waste Systems, and saw rental as a solid industry with a promising future. What began as a concept around his dining room table quickly evolved.